Bonds That Bind
by soar0116
Summary: Taking place just after Naruto's 3 year training session with Jiraiya, Naruto returns to Konoha with a drastically new strategy to deal with Akatsuki and gain new allies for Konoha simultaneously. However, while on his new mission to turn the tides, he begins to take notice of a certain shy ninja. Contains some moderate language. NaruHina
1. Chapter 1

**Bonds That Bind**

"Jiraiya -sama, how did you ever get so strong and handsome?"

"Oh my darlings! That is a huge secret, but I can tell you if you do something for me", responded Jiraiya.

"Oh anything, anything at all! Just name it!"

"Hahaha! I love you girls!" Jiraiya said as he started thinking of all the fun 'favors' the girls could do for him. "Oh girls!" Jiraiya snickered.

The young girls in bikinis giggled as they gathered around him.

Jiraiya says, "First I want you three girls to…" Just then, an irritating darkness fell over him and the multitudes of young, bikini wearing girls. His world turned black as he felt an annoying voice come through to his head.

"ERO SENNIN! WAKE UP!"

"Damnit." Jiraiya thought to himself.

As he opened his eyes, he found a blonde teenager, with blue eyes, and slight whisker marks running across his cheeks staring at him.

"Naruto! How many times have I told you not to wake me up before?"

"But you were making those weird moaning noises again! And it was creepy." stated Naruto bluntly, " And besides that, I don't want to wait for you to finish your perverted dreams! We're supposed to be headed back to Konoha today. Remember!"

"Of course I remember, but that is still not an excuse for waking up your sensei while he is in the middle of a peaceful nap!"

Jiraiya and Naruto got up from the calm shade that the great oak provided them, and then continue on down the path to Konoha. As they continued to walk, Naruto's mind drifts off to visit old memories of his life in Konoha three years ago. He remembers going to the ninja academy and acting like the class clown so that everyone would notice him. He also remembered the way people would treat him and look down on his very existence. Every single person he could think of always looked down on him, except Iruka-sensei. 'I can't wait to see Iruka-sensei again! He won't believe how much stronger I have become. I'll challenge him to a sparring match, and when I win, I'll make him treat me to ramen.'

"Hey Naruto."

Naruto's mind drifted back to the dirt path surrounded by masses of forest on either side and the clear blue sky above him.

"Huh? What is it Ero-Sennin?"

"Remember that once we get back to Konoha, Tsunade is going to want to debrief you from you training, and please Naruto, don't call me that once we're in public."

"Oh man. How long is the debriefing going to take? I want to go and see Iruka-sensei and show him how much stronger I am now"

"Well, we'll probably get into Konoha late at night, and the debriefing is going to take a while. Your ramen obsession is going to have to wait one more day."

"That's not fair though! I've gone three years without Ichiraku's ramen! Can't we meet with Tsunade Obaachan tomorrow?"

"No Naruto. We must meet with her as soon as we arrive. You have waited three years for Ichiraku ramen. One more day won't hurt."

As night falls upon Naruto and Jiraiya, they see off in the distance the gates of Konoha. As they approach the gates, they encounter an ANBU sentry.

"Halt! Identify yourselves." ,stated the ANBU guard.

"I am one of the three legendary sannin of Konoha, I am the legendary toad sage Jiraiya! And this is my idiot apprentice Naruto Uzumaki."

"Hey! Shut up you perverted old man!"

"What did I tell you about speaking in such a disrespectful manner to your sensei!"

"Well what do you expect when you go around disrespecting the only person who will put up with your perverted antics!"

"There not perverted antics! There my research for my award winning novel."

"You call your stupid book a novel! It doesn't even have a real story line! The entire thing is just talking about…"

"AH-HEM" The ANBU guard tried to stop the useless fight before it was too late.

Both Naruto and Jiraiya looked up, surprised to see the ANBU guard standing next to them. They had both completely forgotten about him while they had their little 'episode'.

The ANBU guard now feeling as though he had the attention of the two proceeded to say, "I'll just take you two to the Hogake's Office and let her deal with it."

Naruto and Jiraiya kept bickering along the dark and cold Konoha street. The ANBU guard simply tuning them out and thinking about why the Hokage would want to see these two. The guard looked back and thought how strangely similar the two of them were. They could be related for all he knew.

The three shinobi continued to walk the dimly lit streets until they arrived at the Hokage's office. The ANBU departing soon after he was sure the other two were inside.

The sannin and his pupil entered the cluttered room filled with an assortment of scrolls and books. The 5th Hokage had fallen asleep reading scrolls again, and she had a smudged copy of the print on her cheek. But of course, Naruto brought it upon himself to wake the twenty year old wannabe. "TSUNADE OBAACHAN! WAKE UP!". He was instantly knocked into the wall across from where Tsunade was napping.

"Ow! What was that for baa-chan?" ,cried the newly bruised Naruto.

"For not showing the Hokage of Konoha the respect she deserves!" claimed the empowered Tsunade, recovering from her nap.

"Well if you hadn't made us come all the way here so late at night, you could still be sleeping." Said Naruto in a Matter-Of-Fact way.

Tsunade, not wanting to have a never ending argument, decided to change the subject, "Well Naruto, Jiraiya, I want a detailed report of your training for the last 3 years. I've heard some rumors that I want cleared up as soon as possible."

"Eh, what kind of rumors?" Jiraiya asked in a sheepish tone.

"Well lets see, I have a report here that two Konoha shinobi were spotted peeping into the women's only hot springs near Water Country." Tsunade continued, "I also have heard numerous reports on an old man wearing a red vest and having long white hair going on multiple drunken rampages near the Rock Country".

"I WASN'T DRUNK!" yelled Jiraiya before realizing that he just admitted to the allegations against him.

"Anyway", Tsunade started, "I need that report, neither of you two can leave my office until I 'day to day' understanding of what you two have been up to while you were out of my village."

Jiraiya and Naruto, after Naruto attempted to escape Tsunade's debriefing from hell, reluctantly stayed well into the morning filling Tsunade in with every detail of their 3 year long training session. After they were done and Tsunade stopped caring, they departed for their respective homes.

Naruto got back to his small apartment that he called home. He opened up the small wooden door to reveal his dust infested living quarters. "Good to be back", he stated as he walked into what his been is sanctuary every since he was young child. It was hard living by himself, it wasn't the fact that he had to clean up after himself, or do his own cooking, etc… It was the fact that he was alone. It was always a pain that he tried to avoid whenever he possibly could. But it always came back to him whenever he returned to his apartment.

He settled down and put his belongings away. Its funny how everything he lived with for the last 3 years could be put away in as little as 5 minutes. He changed into his pajamas and put his animal shaped hat over his head and slowly drifted off to sleep. Knowing in the back of his mind, that he was finally home.


	2. Chapter 2

**Bonds That Bind**

'Stupid sun, why won't you rise any faster?' Naruto thought to himself as he lay in his bed. He hadn't gotten much sleep throughout the night; he would just lay there and doze off every now and then. As he looked outside his slightly frosted window, he came to the conclusion that he should just get up and go outside while he wait for Ichiraku to open.

As he got up from his bed he made a mental note for him to look for a new bed while he was out. He had grown a lot since he left and had his legs hanging off his bed all night long. He got dressed and took a quick moment to look at his old Team 7 picture that he kept on his bedroom dresser. 'Sasuke.' He still deeply missed his friend. Naruto made another mental note to check up with Baachan and see what news she had to offer him in regards to his old friend.

He locked his apartment and headed towards his breakfast destination. It was still very early in Konoha, many of the shops hadn't opened yet for business. As he jumped from rooftop to rooftop, he looked back at the Hokage monument and nearly fell off the roof when he noticed Tsunade's face carved into the mountain after the 4th. 'Wow, I don't think that I'll ever get used to that'. He made it to Ichiraku's 30 minutes before it would open, so he did what he always did when he was forced to wait for Ichiraku to open up. "HEY OLD MAN! Open up already, I'm starving!"

"Hold your horses! We'll open when we open!" someone inside the small restaurant replied.

"Oh come on! I'll help make the ramen myself if you want, I've been waiting for 3 years!" Naruto replied.

"3 years?" Just then the old man poked his head outside to see who it was. "NARUTO! When did you get back?"

"Last night" Naruto replied with his full sized grin.

"Well come in, come in. You can have a seat while we get ready for you" The old man replied with a grin of his own.

Naruto made himself comfy on the stool and got his chop sticks ready. When he suddenly heard a familiar voice. "N-Naru-to-kun?" He turned around to see 3 Konoha shinobi on the road behind him. One of them was very concealed yet familiar none the less, another was riding a great white hound, and the third was a girl, with long dark hair and two very big lavender eyes. She was blushing madly while poking her fingers together.

"Hinata! Kiba! Akamaru! And is that really Shino?" Naruto blurted out.

"Hey Naruto, Long time no see? When did you get back from your training?" Kiba said with a wide grin on his face.

"I got back just last night, what are you guys up to?"

"We have an escort mission for a merchant." Shino stated in a very monotone voice.

"So what was your training like Naruto? Did you learn any new jutsus?" Kiba asked.

"You bet! I can't wait to show them off, any of you guys want to spar when you get back?", said Naruto.

"Sure I'll take you on, but I'm warning you. Me and Akamaru haven't been slacking off this whole time, you'll be in for a huge defeat when we get back."

"Bring it on. I'm sure I can handle a little wolf boy and his puppy."

"Hah, we'll see about that Naruto."

"Hinata, have you learned any new moves since I've been gone?" Naruto asked and as if on cue, Hinata responded as she always did when Naruto would talk to her.

"I-I-uh…" and just fainted right there on the street. Luckily Shino caught her before she hit the dirt road.

"Well we better get going or that merchant will start complaining to the Hokage. It was good seeing you again Naruto." Kiba yelled as they headed off towards Konoha's main gate.

After his run in with Team 8, Naruto was served with a huge bowl of pork ramen. 'Its better than I remember it' he thought to himself as he inhaled it. After his compliments to Ichiraku he left the ramen shop and went to find some old friends of his. He headed over to the hospital in an attempt to find a certain pink-haired kunoichi that used to be on his team.

As he entered his least favorite place on earth, he couldn't help but notice the scowling faces that seemed to pierce through him from many of the nurses and doctors walking through the bright white halls which seemed to extend in every direction. He asked one of the few staff members who didn't seem to be shooting him glares if she happened to know where Sakura was and she told him to check on the 4th floor. As he made his way to the 4th floor he continued to notice the stares coming his way from the people. The angry looks people gave him were one of the few things he hadn't missed since leaving Konoha. He tried to never take it personally, he knew that it was the only way these people had of getting revenge for what the Kyuubi had done 15 years earlier, but it still hurt Naruto many times. 'Why can't they understand that I'm not the Kyuubi? I'll prove to them that I'm not the Kyuubi, I'll prove to all of them what I can do to better this village, and I'll prove to them that they're wrong when I become the Hokage'.

As he continued down the intricate corridors of the hospital he heard his name being called. "Naruto! Is that really you?!" He turned around to see a pink-haired nurse calling out to him. "Sakura-chan!" He started to run towards her when he heard her yell at him, "Don't run in the hospital you idiot!".

They left the hospital and started to walk around Konoha. The life in the streets was starting to pick up now that it was almost midday and the city was alive at last. Naruto and Sakura walked with each other, telling each their own stories and what they have been up to these past 3 years. Then Naruto asked Sakura a question which made her burst into tears, a question that Naruto didn't think was very odd, a question which Sakura herself had asked Tsunade many times and never got the answer she had hoped for.

"Hey Sakura-chan, what has happened so far with Sasuke? Have they found out anything new? Does the Hokage know where he is? Is he safe?" Naruto was an oblivious man, it had to be something really obvious for him to notice anything, but for this particular question, Naruto was as attentive as he possibly could be. He noticed right when he mentioned 'Sasuke' the look of shock and sadness sweep over Sakura's face. Then when he finished his question, there were tears making their way down Sakura's cheeks. She was looking down at the street and sobbing heavily. "Sakura-chan, what is it? What happened?"

"Nothing." She replied in a voice that was hardly audible. "Nothing has happened at all."

"What do you mean 'Nothing has happened'? Why are you crying what has happened with Sasuke!" Naruto could easily see the look of torment in his teammates face but he didn't understand why.

"Tsunade-sama called off the search for Sasuke-kun", Sakura replied still weeping.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN THEY CALLED OFF THE SEARCH! HOW COULD SHE DO THAT? WHY DIDN'T YOU STOP HER?" Naruto was starting to become hysterical.

"I TRIED! I TRIED TO MAKE HER CONTINUE! BUT SHE WOULDN'T. I don't know why." Sakura's sadness was turning into rage.

"I'm sorry Sakura-chan, I didn't mean to yell at you. I just don't understand."

As they both started to calm down, Naruto felt that he need to change the subject.

"So, when did you become a full blown nurse?"

"I'm not, I just help out in the hospital when they need me. I am usually out in the field attached to a squad and act as their medical shinobi."

"Wow that's amazing Sakura-chan!"

Sakura smiled at the small compliment, she had missed Naruto. She had felt alone in the village ever since she had accomplished Tsunade's training and Naruto had left to go and train with Jiraiya. Now Naruto was back, and she was regaining her happiness that she had once lost.

After having lunch with each other, Sakura went back to the hospital and Naruto made his way straight for the Hokage's Office.

He charged right in as usual and found Tsunade sitting in her chair staring dominantly at Naruto as if she had been expecting him.

"WHY BAACHAN! WHY DID YOU CALL OFF THE SEARCH FOR SASUKE?" Naruto was filled with anger and disgust, and he wanted Tsunade to know it.

"Naruto, do not come into my office and start yelling at me over a decision I made for the better of the village." Tsunade was speaking in a very stern voice and made it clear that she would not change her decision.

"What do you mean 'For the better of the village'!? How is ignoring Sasuke helping the village?"

"Because Naruto, as the Hokage, I cannot send resources to find Sasuke. I need to think of what's best for this village and its future, not what is in your best interests."

"But what about Orochimaru? He will come back and mount an attack against the village again just like he did before. How is ignoring Sasuke going to help the village?"

"Because Naruto, it is a strategy."

"What kind of strategy? How is ignoring your enemies a strategy?"

"I am not ignoring Orochimaru nor am I ignoring the Akatsuki, It is just that I am only committing forces to gain intelligence on them. I do not believe it is worth the risk to send more and more shinobi into harms way to rescue a single missing Nin from our village when we already know that some time in the future he will return."

"But why not try and rescue him? Why are you letting Orochimaru get his way?"

"Naruto what I'm about to tell you is top secret, and If you so much as tell another person about this, I will have you branded as a traitor against the leaf. Do you accept these circumstances?"

"I do." Naruto replied, a little fearful of what he may learn.

"The Akatsuki and Orochimaru are currently enemies of each other. It is our beliefs that The Akatsuki will not allow Orochimaru the chance to change containers. This is why we are merely monitoring the situation between the two. Why should we attack either of them now while they are full strength, rather then after the two have fought and are severely weaker?"

Naruto knew deep down that she had a point, and also knew that attempting to save Sasuke right now would be meaningless. He would have to wait for the time to be right, and then act on his own.

"Fine Baachan, but could you do me a favor?"

"What do you have in mind Naruto?"

"Can you at least keep me informed on what happens in regards to Sasuke and the Akatsuki?"

"I will try Naruto, but I'm not making any promises".

'Damn', Naruto had anticipated this type of answer. 'So be it, I'll get the information I need. Don't worry Sasuke, I'll make sure that you never become a vessel to that piece of trash!'

"Thank you Baachan." And with that, Naruto left the Hokage's office. Depressed and Helpless, he continued on towards one last stop before home. Ichiraku.

As he made his way towards his lunch, he noticed that Konoha seemed to be getting a bigger population as the day passed. Noticeably more and more people seemed to be filling the streets. He got to Ichiraku and was delighted to see who else was there. "Hey! Iruka-sensei!" He yelled as he ran to the seat next to his old sensei.

"Naruto! My have you really grown. How was your training? Are you alright?", Iruka asked, clearly interested in what his favorite student has been up to in his 3 years of absence.

Naruto and Iruka talked with each other through the day and into the night. It really brightened Naruto's mood to see Iruka again and talk with him about his training. Naruto had always thought of Iruka more as a father than as a teacher and he really missed the chuunin instructor while he was off with Jiraiya.

"Hey Iruka-sensei, is it just me or are there a lot more people in Konoha now?"

"Oh right! Listen Naruto, the Chuunin exams are starting, the increase in people your referring to is all of the shinobi and merchants from other villages coming to attend, Konoha is the host of the exams this turn."

"The Chuunin exams are now? Wow I can show off my new jutsus and techniques I've learned! Iruka-sensei, how would I sign up?"

"Well the exams this year are going to be in 3 man cells again, so I don't have an answer for that Naruto, everyone you age group are either Chuunin or Jonin by now. Go and talk with the Hokage tomorrow, I'm sure she'll find some way to fit you in."

"Right." Naruto, now realizing the time, ends the conversation. "Thanks for the talk Iruka-sensei, let me take care of the ramen bill this time."

"Thanks Naruto, I'll take you up on that offer", Iruka says with a smile.

Naruto leaves his father figure and heads off for home. The cool air flows around his body as he soars from rooftop to rooftop. He thinks to himself about how he is finally going to be a chuunin after 3 years of waiting, his chance is finally here! Just then he stops. A stunned look appears on his face. He looks around him and finds himself to be alone. The busy city life has retreated to slumber. But what can this chakra be then. And then he realizes it, it's the same dual type of chakra he has all to well been accustomed to. Another Jinchuuriki.


	3. Chapter 3

**Bonds That Bind**

"And then it just disappeared! I know it was another Jinchuuriki." Naruto pleaded.

"Hmm… I have no reason to doubt you Naruto; as well as you have no reason to lie about something of this nature. Yet, the information we have on all of the registered applicants lists nothing to the degree that one of the participants could be a Jinchuuriki. Shizune!"

"Yes Tsunade-sama?"

"Have a squad of ANBU do reconnaissance on the participants for the chuunin exams. Have them thoroughly search each participant for anything strange, but don't mention anything about the Jinchuuriki possibility to them."

"Right away Tsunade-sama!" Shizune hurried out the office to contact the ANBU captain.

"Naruto, do you have any idea what part of Konoha it cam from?" asked Tsunade.

"No, I was leaving the business district when I felt it. But, it disappeared before I could get an idea of where it originated from."

"I see." Tsunade plotted her next move. '_This is a problem, I don't want to have to cancel the chuunin exams. Yet, if a Jinchuuriki could get out of control, there is a possibility of many casualties… Wait a minute, THAT'S IT!' _"Naruto, your still a genin aren't you?"

"Sadly, that's another thing I wanted to talk to you about…"

"Ok, you can participate in the chuunin exams without a three-man-cell."

"Really! I can, oh thank God. I really didn't want the risk of being paired with Konohamaru and the others."

"But, you cannot win the exams."

"WHAT?!"

"Its simple Naruto, follow my instructions and you will still become a chuunin. Here's what your going to do. Go into the exams and locate the other Jinchuuriki from within the competition. With you on the inside and ANBU on the outside, we should be able to find the Jinchuuriki and monitor it successfully."

"Ok I see your point, but why can't I win the exams?"

"Because you will stand out too much, try to keep a low profile during the whole thing. It will be the standard test, then forest, then elimination fights. During the test I want to you focus on finding the other Jinchuuriki and then I need you to trail him/her for the remainder of the exams. You still need to complete the exam's challenges so as to not raise suspicion towards you, but your main objective is to monitor the other Jinchuuriki."

"Ok, but what happens if the Jinchuuriki starts to lose itself and the demon comes out?"

"Then I need you to contact ANBU, report the situation, and then restrain the demon. Jiraiya made these seals for you during you training I believe. If and when the time arises I need you to place a seal on the Jinchuuriki and reseal the demon."

"Ok, leave it to me Baachan!" Naruto flashed his grin and was about to leave.

"One more thing Naruto…"

"Huh, what is it?"

"Don't tell anyone about the situation. Think of it as a secret mission." Tsunade smiled in a devious way.

"Really! A secret mission. Oh this is so cool! What grade mission is it Baachan? Is it an 'A'?"

"Uh… sure."

"Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet! My own 'A' ranked mission! Later Baachan!" and Naruto jumped out the Hokage's window. His mind set on the task laid before him. That and Ichiraku.

Two Days Later

"Good luck Naruto!" Sakura yelled.

"Hah, I don't need luck Sakura-chan, this will be a piece of cake." Naruto flashed his toothy grin.

"D-do your b-b-best Naruto-k-kun."

"Huh? Oh hey Hinata!." Hinata appeared from behind a wooden fence and started to walk towards the blonde shinobi in front of the crowded exam area. In her hands she held a small wooden box.

'_I can do this, its just a gift. To the man whom I envy with every bone in my body. Oh my gosh what am I doing? He's going to think I'm weird. What if he rejects it? He'll probably think it's a stupid gift. No! I can do this. I'm the heir of the Hyuuga for crying out loud. Just keep walking, c'mon I can do it. Don't look down, keep your eyes on him. I can do it. I can do it.' _"I can do it!"

"Do what Hinata?"

"O-oh uh… H-here. F-f" '_Damnit, don't stutter. C'mon. C'mon. C'mon. There is no reason for this.' _"For Luck!" _'Yes! I did it!'_

"Oh, thanks. Hehe I love gifts." Naruto opens the wooden box to reveal a silver ring that was tinted dark blue. On it was a dove, as if it were flying out of the ring itself. "Hinata, its beautiful."

"It w-was one of m-my mother's pieces of jewel-ry be-before she passed away. It will bring you luck and help you become a chuunin."

"Hinata, I can't accept this. It's too precious to you."

"Jus-s-t think o-o-of it as a-a loan then, y-you can return it a-a-after y-you become a ch-chuunin." With that Hinata gave a soft smile and blushed. Naruto happily returned it with a smile of his own, but not his normal 'fake smile'. It was a real one, one that really showed how grateful he was to have friends that cared for him.

"All right I'm off to become a chuunin!"

Naruto walked away from the two kunoichi that had bid him farewell. He entered the complex and went passed the crowd waiting in front of the examination room's door. _'Too bad they can't tell that it's a genjutsu. Man, it's kind of boring to know what will happen'._ He reached the real entrance and saw the multitude of foreign shinobi. Many were staring at his orange and black uniform. Others didn't wish to didn't even wish to grace him with a quick glance. He felt alone. Misplaced amongst a small genin army. _'I've got to stay focused, I'm not here to become a chuunin… well, I kind of am. But I have a mission, I need to start searching.'_

Naruto walked around the entrance room, but found no signs of the Jinchuuriki's chakra.

"All right, everyone come into this classroom. We're going to have a little test."

"How troublesome." Naruto laughed to himself at his Shikamaru impersonation.

The genin crowd advanced into the classroom and sat in their seats. On either side of the classroom were chuunin guards sitting with clipboards waiting to catch a cheater. An instructor came out and started addressing everyone. "Hello everyone, welcome to the first part of the chuunin exams…" Naruto stopped listening after that, he had been through it all before. _'Cheat. I already thought ahead this time… right buddy?' He looked at his shoulder to find a small tick. _He started scoping out the room for a smart looking shinobi._ 'Bingo!'_ He set his eyes on a ninja from the hidden mist. "Ok, go take a look." Naruto whispered to the bug on his shoulder who then promptly jumped off and made his way for the designated target.

When the tick made it to the mist nin's test paper, he had already completed it. _'Nice.'_ Naruto congratulated himself. The tick studied the paper and then was released. _'Wow, using a kage bunshin and having him henge really works well for reconnaissance.'_ Naruto filled in the questions and sat patiently.

The bad cheaters were caught, the smart shinobi and the good cheaters moved on to the next round. _'Damnit, I still haven't found that other Jinchuuriki. I have to really play catch-up in the forest of death.'_ Naruto was lost in his thoughts as he walked into another person. "Oh, sorry. I wasn't paying attention."

"Oh, no that's ok. It happens to me quite frequently really." Naruto looked to see where the soft voice had come from. In front of him was a girl with long dark red hair. She wore the symbol of Kumogakure and had on a plain black top with a black skirt.

"Hi, I'm Yugito, Yugito Nii. Nice to meet you." She said with a smile.

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki, nice to meet you too." He returned her smile with his big grin.

"Where are your teammates Naruto? Are you alone?"

"What, oh no, no. They're off over at the… the… the bathroom. Yea."

"Oh ok, so…" Suddenly a voice over a loudspeaker cut her off. "All competitors please come forth to the gate."

"Well it was nice meeting you Yugito, good luck in the competition."

"You to!"

Naruto ran off in the direction of the loud speaker. _'There is something about her, but I can't place my finger on it. I'll track her team until I find another candidate.'_


	4. Chapter 4

**Bonds That Bind**

"Alright I understand. I'll inform the Hokage immediately." The ANBU that was standing in front of Shizune disappears without a trace, and Shizune exits the room and heads down the circular hallway. She appears at the Hokage's door and knocks.

"Come in." Shizune enters to find the Hokage studying different seals. "Oh, Shizune. Has anything regarding the Jinchuuriki come to the surface?"

"Some what Tsunade-sama. A report from ANBU indicates that Naruto located a kunoichi from Kumogakure by the name of Yugito Nii. Naruto suspects that this person could possibly be the Jinchuuriki and is currently trailing her team through the forest of death."

"Interesting, Shizune could you please bring me the file on Yugito Nii."

"Right away Tsunade-sama." And with that Shizune left the Hokage to her thoughts.

'_Kumogakure. I've read in the archives that Konoha had a run in recently with a nin from Kumogakure. They attempted to steal the Byakugan through the unsuccessful kidnapping of Hinata Hyuuga. I have to consider every possibility; there is only a loose treaty between us and Kumogakure... Please don't do anything rash Naruto.'_

Naruto was trailing Yugito's team beyond visible range and had a clone henge into a hawk and was observing them from the air. They had been in the forest of death for about 3 hours now and neither Naruto or is suspect's team has run into another group of genin.

Now that Yugito's team was together, Naruto had gotten a chance to look at her teammates. One of them had long brown hair that was really messy; he had a scar on his left arm from the shoulder to the forearm. He wore loose fitting grey clothing that was also raggedy and had several holes in it. The other had short green hair and was very clean. He wore black long sleeves and pants that hugged his body and didn't have any physical markings anywhere on his body. One glance at him and you couldn't tell if he was a shinobi or a civilian.

Suddenly, Yugito's team stopped in a small clearing within the forest. There was a small river running nearby and a huge tree trunk that was hollow within. Naruto stopped and had his clone fly off and then dispel the kage bunshin jutsu. Naruto held his position and just estimated their position through the chakra he could feel from them. _'Hmm, it's too early for them to be tired already. They must be setting up an ambush point near that stream.'_ Naruto estimated that he was roughly 120 yards away from them, and after an hour of their chakra not going far from where they stopped, he concluded that his ambush hypothesis was correct and decided to set himself up in a tree where he could gain a visual on them from a distance. He found one of the few higher trees that could give a visual at Yugito's team without them easily noticing him and began his stakeout.

Naruto watched as Yugito's team set up their ambush. He noticed that the green haired member was particularly good at manipulating his chakra, he had set up small chakra lines from his fingers and placed them upstream and had the ends flow naturally flow downstream. Effectively alerting him should anyone or anything either pass the stream or get something to drink. The brown haired teammate had set up numerous traps surrounding them. Ranging from concealed holes in the ground to explosive tags set up in the trees and bushes surrounding them. Yugito had hollowed out three of the surrounding trees, each facing the already hollowed one, for each of her teammates. Once all of them were done, they created bunshins of themselves and had their bunshins all act asleep in the main hollowed tree.

'_Very clever.'_ Thought Naruto, _'They seem to work very well together as a team, I wonder if their fighting is in sync with each other as well.'_ Suddenly Naruto felt another presence coming from behind him. _'Weak chakra output, they must be relatively new genin. Whatever, at least now I'll be able to find out how well their ambush works.'_ The three newcomers continued to get closer. Naruto was waiting for them to rush past him and have the explosive tags go off, and watch one of the best ambush's unfold before him. _'Just a little more.'_ Naruto tensed from the excitement. The three mysterious shinobi passed Naruto's position. Then, Naruto was abruptly forced down from his observation tower as two kunai flew past him and into the tree he was on. _'Damnit, this would only happen with my luck.'_

"All right you guys, we finally found someone! And look! He's all alone, this will be easy." In front of Naruto stood three genin, all female. They looked like something from a superhero team. They all wore red short sleeved tops and blue shorts with blue backpacks on their backs. They sported the headbands from Takigakure that shone through their blue hair. The one in the middle of them spoke to Naruto, "You there, which scroll do you have?" Naruto hadn't even checked the scroll when he first received it. He searched around his jumpsuit to find that he had been given the "heaven" scroll.

"Heaven." Naruto replied nonchalantly. "But I really don't feel like fighting right now, how about you guys just continue towards that way. There is a stream you can drink from and a nice resting place." Naruto practically pleaded this part out; he really wanted to watch that ambush go underway. Plus he wasn't really too ecstatic about beating up three girls who dressed alike. It gave him the same creepy feeling he gets when he sees Lee and Guy-sensei together.

"Hah, you're the one who will need a resting place after we get through! We have the 'Earth' scroll, so we must meet through destiny."

'_Well, if anything I can acquire the 'Earth' scroll from them.'_ Naruto pleaded with the three Takigakurian kunoichi once more only to be shot down again. _'So be it.'_

The three kunoichi leaped forward towards Naruto with kunai ready in their hands. Naruto dodged the first swipe by bending under the sideways strike and then proceeded to flip multiple times backwards until he was out of the onslaught. He then jumped onto a tree branch and preformed the hand sign for his kage bunshin. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu." There were now a total of three Narutos standing on the branch. They jumped down from the branch propelling themselves towards the kunoichi trio. Two of the girls prepared for the oncoming Narutos while the third jumped back and started performing hand signs. "Suiton: Suiryuudan no Jutsu!" Naruto's eyes became wide with both fear and admiration. Spouts of water shot out of the three backpacks the kunoichi's wore and formed into a water dragon. Naruto cursed in his mind as the dragon flew at him and his clones. He jumped up away from his bunshins and the dragon and landed on a branch overlooking the battlefield.

Naruto analyzed the situation in front of him, _'These three don't seem to posses a lot of chakra, but they do know some fierce jutsu. I have to end this quickly less I want Yugito's team to arrive while I'm still here.'_ Naruto preformed the required hand sign had another bunshin appear next to him which started to spin chakra into Naruto's hand. Once the bunshin had finished, he was dispelled along with the one remaining kage bunshin who was fighting the three kunoichi. They looked up toward Naruto to see that he was holding a violently spinning orb of chakra in his right hand. "Forgive me." Just as Naruto said that he was instantly beside the water dragon driving his swirling ball of chakra into the side of its head. "Rasengan!" Water flew splashed in every direction, blown back to its natural liquid state by the rasengan. Then Naruto was in front of the kunoichi who had preformed the necessary hand signs for the jutsu and sent her flying with an upward kick to her jaw. As her teammates turned to see what had become of her Naruto had already vanished and appeared behind one of the two remaining and knocked her out with a quick strike to her neck. He then slowly approached the last one who was standing still, shocked that her team had been taken out so easily. Naruto saw the look of fear in her eyes and then with a quick punch to her gut had her keel over to the ground.

He had knocked every one of them out without any serious injuries. He approached the leader of the group and found the "Earth" scroll within a pocket on her backpack. And with that he jumped up into the trees to find another location to observe Yugito's team.

Naruto abandoned the idea of another high up stakeout position and moved in close to teams set up ambush. He ended up hiding in a bush behind the hollowed out tree of one of the teams members. Naruto was impressed with how long they were keeping their bunshins up. He stayed silent and waited patiently for someone to move.

Morning came, and along with it, was three chakra sources. They were moving slowly and had hardly any chakra output. Even less than the three kunoichis from Takigakure. _'This is bad; these three seem to be strong. They're hiding their chakra signals, stopping all but a small amount from coming out.'_ Naruto had trouble finding the sources at first because of how faint the signal was, but he now calculated that they would be approaching from the water-side of the perimeter. Naruto had a concealed location, but it would be in his best interests to move to a higher point once the battle was underway. He felt uneasy about the readiness Yugito's squad. He had a feeling that they were asleep, but he was unsure if he should interfere. _'No, this is an ambush. It would completely ruin their entire plan if I were to make an effort to make sure they were awake. It would definitely make the approaching shinobi know that Yugito's team was here.'_ Naruto waited for what seemed like an eternity until…

"**BOOM!**" An explosive tag was set off and then suddenly dozens of kunai and shuriken screamed as they flew into the ball of fire. _'Oh good, they're awake.'_ Naruto witnessed as Yugito and her teammates jumped high in the treetops and ran towards where the explosion had occurred. They arrived to find nothing but a burnt piece of wood with several shuriken and kunai lodged into it. "Damn, keep an eye out. Someone is definitely here." The raggedy brown haired shinobi stated.

"You don't have to state the obvious Taka, I'm sure we all knew that already." Stated the green haired squad member.

Taka retaliated saying, "Yea and you don't have to be a jerk all of the time Retsu, if it weren't for us being on a team I'd…"

"Would you both just shut up! We need to focus!" Yugito was nervous; they had their ambush called out as if it were nothing. Suddenly the ground in between the team split open and large rocks shot out of the ground at them. Taka was caught off guard and felt the full force of the flying boulder as it hurled him into a nearby tree. Yugito jumped over one boulder and used it as a platform to leap over a second which was thrown her way. Once airborne she used a fire technique and blew it into the newly split earth. "Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" the hot fireball fused the torn earth back together. Retsu too had a boulder shot his direction but he easily cut it with his chakra lines, using them as whips.

'_That's it. When Yugito used that last Katon Jutsu, her Biju's chakra appeared. Yugito. You are the other Jinchuuriki!'_ Naruto watched from his position as the one-sided battle continued.

"Impressive fire technique girl, it seems that we underestimated you three." A voice from the shadows danced into their ears, not giving away the location of its owner. Yugito, obviously irritated at the voice fired multiple fireballs in the surrounding forest area. "Foolish girl, you would be wise to conserve your chakra. You're going to need it." Taka, stunned from the boulder that hit him, stumbled next to Yugito and Retsu.

"Shut up and show yourselves you cowards!" Taka demanded.

"As you wish" The voice replied. Three shadowy figures appeared in front of them. They wore long dark brown cloaks and displayed their forehead protectors proudly which represented Iwagakure. One of them had a masked face and only allowed his dark eyes to be seen. The one in the center had short brown hair and multiple scars and slashes across his face, he displayed a wicked smile and had the eyes to match. The last one was relatively calm, he displayed no emotion whatsoever and was bald. The two teams looked upon one another in disgust. "Now, which one of you is currently carrying the scroll?"

"Why should we answer that question?" Yugito fiercely replied.

"Because I wish to know whose body to leave intact, the scroll does me no good if it's chopped into pieces." Said the scarred one in the middle.

"Enough of this!" Taka yelled and charged at the three Iwagakurian shinobi. He raised his hands high and was suddenly holding a solid bolt of lightning. "This is for hitting me with that oversized pebble!" Taka threw the lightning bolt into the masked ninja hitting him square in the chest. The masked nin then dematerialized into a rock which then broke apart. _'Damn!'_ Taka looked up just in the knick of time to see masked ninja falling at him with a stone pole. He dodged the attack right as the pole smashed into the ground creating a crater several feet in diameter. Taka didn't have time to rest for the nin was back on him swinging the pole in every direction. _'I need to create some space so I can summon another lightning bolt.'_ Taka pulled out a kunai with an explosive tag and threw it at his opponent's feet. It exploded creating a stall in the barrage, just enough time needed for Taka to rearm himself. He then went on the offensive using his bolt of lightning as a sword.

As Taka and the masked nin from Iwagakure were fighting, the scarred one lunged at Retsu throwing several more boulders in the process. Retsu responded with his chakra whips and effectively sliced the boulders into pieces which fell down harmlessly. "Interesting talent you have there, might I ask how you made your little whips so potent?" asked the scarred shinobi.

"I am a shinobi of Kumogakure, we specialize in electrical ninjutsu. I simply run chakra lines out of my hands and run an electrical current down them, easily allowing them to slice through anything." Retsu replied with a grin on his face.

"Oh I see, well then. Allow me to change tactics." The scarred ninja then reached into his cloak and pulled out two large rocks. The rocks were tainted black and very evenly portioned to each other. "Lets see how your whips do against these!" He through the two rocks at Retsu who then sliced them into eight different pieces.

"I told you, my chakra whips can cut through anything." Retsu replied in a monotone voice.

"That's what I was expecting." The scarred one grinned devilishly at Retsu and then preformed hand signs. "Doton: Iwa Soujuu no Jutsu!" The black rocks around Retsu began to rise into the air and surround him. "It's true that your whips can cut through anything I suppose, however that doesn't matter in this situation."

Yugito saw her teammates in trouble and then looked at her own opponent. He had not moved from the spot he had appeared in, nor did he look at the battles going on around him. He just looked straight forward, not at Yugito, but just staring straight forward, as if he were lost in a dream. "Shall we get started?" He said, no emotion in his voice. "I'll allow you to make the first move if you wish."

Yugito stared at him, his face just seemed so empty. She readied herself for another fire attack. "Alright then! Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu." She fired her massive fireball in her opponent's direction and watched as it engulfed where he was standing. The smoke cleared to reveal a glassed area where he had been standing, but there was no sign of him. Then she felt it, a kunai into her leg. She buckled from the pain and then struggled to get back up. _'When did he…'_

Taka had the advantage in his fight; his lightning bolt could slice through the pole of solid rock his opponent was wielding. Yet, he was losing. He could never land a hit on the masked shinobi, and if he did, it revealed itself as a boulder. Taka had to maintain the chakra flow into his weapon or it would disappear soon. He went back on the offensive attempting to even graze his opponent, but never came close to the masked ninja's real body. "Lets end this already, I want to defeat some more useless teams before the time limit expires." And with that the masked shinobi threw his rock pole at Taka who sliced it in two. But in the time it took Taka to destroy the hurled object, his opponent had already formed the required seals for his technique and had them flat on the ground. "ITS OVER! Doton: Iwa Yuushuu no Jutsu!" Two giant slabs of rock burst from the ground and smashed Taka in between them.

Retsu had been holding off the now twenty-four pieces of black rocks that were controlled by his opponent, but he was reaching his limit. His chakra reserves were at their end. "Now you will meet your end!" Retsu's opponent chimed. Retsu braced for the impact as his chakra whips disappeared and his body was penetrated by the twenty-four pieces rock. Retsu's body went limp and he fell to the floor which was already coated in his blood. He had his eyes fixed on Yugito struggling to regain a battle stance as blood flowed down her leg. Then, his vision faded and he passed out from blood loss.

Yugito now positioned herself against the trunk of a tree. The kunai in her leg had severed the nerve endings and she was unable to move it, and on top of that, she hasn't seen her opponent since the beginning of their match when she fired the fireball. "Stop toying with me and come out!" She yelled into the abyss that was the forest of death.

"As you wish, how about we trade places. Doton: Shinjuu Zanshu no Jutsu." Yugito was suddenly pulled underground until only her head was the only part of her body on the surface. She then witnessed as the emotionless ninja from Iwagakure jumped out of the ground. Her eyes widened with fear as she saw the kunai in his hand.

"Ok, we give up. Take the scroll it's hidden under that big hollowed out tree. You win." Yugito pleaded with her soon to be assailant.

"Very well, after you are dead we will go and add your scroll to our collection."

"Collection? Just how many scrolls have you and your team taken?"

"Yours will be our fourth one."

"What?! You guys have already defeated three other teams? Then why are you doing this? Why when you already have what you want?"

"For amusement." The emotionless nin replied as monotone as ever.

Naruto had witnessed the entire battle and was horrified. He knew that Yugito's two teammates weren't dead, but they needed medical attention quickly. Then he saw it, Yugito's chakra soared. She was using her Biju. _'This is bad, I have to stop this now!'_ Naruto jumped out of his observatory and prepared the seal he had received from Tsunade. He watched as the chakra shield started to envelope Yugito and the Iwagakurian shinobi start his decent with his kunai aimed to decapitate Yugito. Naruto rushed towards them at his full speed and barely manage to deflect the kunai away from Yugito's neck while simultaneously placing the seal on Yugito and forcing the demon's chakra back inside her.

"That's enough, You guys have your scrolls now go." Naruto stated with a hint of authority in his tone of voice.

"And just who are you to make such a demand?"

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki, the future Hokage of Konoha!"

"Fool, we'll see if you live long enough to become that pathetic Hokage." And with that, the emotionless nin sank back into the ground. Naruto closed his eyes, keeping his senses in sync with his surroundings. Then, after a few minutes, his eyes shot open. "Doton: Shinjuu Zanshu no Jutsu" His leg was pulled under the ground as his captor came out. "Now you die Naruto Uzumaki!" He lunged forward towards Naruto's head with nothing but pure killing intent, when Naruto suddenly disappeared. _'What, a bunshin? But I was able to pull it down, was it a kage bunshin?'_ He was lost in his train of thought when the real Naruto dropped down beside him, rasengan in hand.

"Its over." Naruto slammed his attack into the back of the stunned Iwagakurian shinobi. "Rasengan!" Naruto's opponent went flying through the tree that Yugito had been supporting herself on and straight into one of the boulders from his teammates' earlier attacks. His back revealed a twisted and misshapen piece of meat that was once his skin and muscle.

"Jousho!" His teammates cried out. "C'mon lets retreat, we have enough scrolls already." His teammates lifted Jousho up and then jumped off in retreat.

Naruto free Yugito from the ground; she was in a state of shock. He set her down next to a tree and went to rescue her teammates. Taka was conscious but in no condition to move, and Retsu had lost a lot of blood, he was in critical condition. "Yugito, stay here and look after your team. I'm going to go get a medical team here, I'll be back before you know it." And with that, Naruto flashed his big grin and jumped off. Leaving behind a very stunned and grateful Yugito.

"Hey ANBU guys! Where are you? ANBU come out!" Naruto was yelling frantically as he approached the edge of the forest of death. "I need a medical team now!" Several exam administrators and ANBU had heard the blonde ninja's cries for assistance and came to his aid. Naruto explained his story and got a medical squad to follow him back to Yugito's position.

"Naruto-kun!" Yugito greeted Naruto and then she saw the medical team that Naruto had brought to them. "Thank you Naruto-kun, I am in debt to you now."

"Haha, it was nothing Yugito. You can thank me by treating me to ramen sometime." Naruto flashed his grin again as the medical squad took Yugito and her teammates away from the forest.

Suddenly eight ANBU members landed around Naruto "Naruto, did you locate the Jinchuuriki?"

"Yea, it is the kunoichi that was just taken away. Yugito Nii." Naruto said in a low tone.

"Very well Naruto, go now and report to the Hokage."

"Yea, I understand." Naruto left the chuunin exams, his mission now over, and went towards the Hokage's office. He arrived at the Hokage's office in a very solemn mood.

"Congratulations on a job well done Naruto, you preformed above expectations. Not only did you locate the Jinchuuriki, but you also trailed her, and stopped her from using her demon chakra. I give you a passing grade on your mission. You are now a Chuunin." Tsunade was incredibly pleased with Naruto's performance. Not only did he save Konoha from a potential Jinchuuriki release, but he also rescued a team from Kumogakure from almost certain death. Tsunade was sure that if Kumogakure were to find out that they had a squad ruthlessly murdered within Konoha's boundaries, they would want reprimands for it, probably in the form of bodies.

"Tsunade-Obaachan."

"Huh? What is it Naruto?" Naruto had pulled Tsunade out of her thoughts.

"Can you please make sure that Yugito will be safe?"

"Of course Naruto, right now she has a team of ANBU guarding her."

"That's what I mean. People hold a general hatred for Jinchuuriki, what if the ANBU attempt something?" Naruto was tense, he knew that not all of the ANBU hated him, but that was only because he had gotten a chance to converse with them and become friends. He had no idea what they would do to a Jinchuuriki that they had connections with.

"It's ok Naruto, the ANBU currently on the guard list for Yugito are all people that I trust with my own life. I can guarantee you that they won't do anything to harm Yugito."

"But can you please check on them, make sure that they don't?"

"I'll go by the hospital room and make sure that everything is ok. Alright?"

"Ok Baachan." Naruto was still moody. It was driving Tsunade insane.

"Naruto! For God sakes, you're a Chuunin now! Go and make Iruka treat you to some ramen."

"Oh Yea! Ok later Baachan, and don't forget to check on Yugito for me!"

"I won't Naruto, enjoy your achievement!"

Naruto left the Hokage's office and headed towards the Ninja Academy. He abandoned the rooftops and decided to take the street. Observing all the tourism that the Chuunin Exams bring to Konoha. He was leaving the business district of Konoha when he heard a voice calling out to him. Naruto turned around to see a kunoichi with short brown hair and a Sunagakure headband hanging around her neck. He waited until she had caught up with him.

"Naruto-san! How have you been?" the kunoichi asked, making small talk.

"Umm, good I guess. I'm sorry but who are you?" Naruto asked the kunoichi, dumbfounded at the girl's identity.

"Oh, well it has been a long time. It's me, Matsuri. You helped me and Gaara-sensei around three years ago."

Naruto noticed Matsuri cringe when she spoke about where they knew each other from. "Oh yea that's right. Wow I'm sorry I forgot about that. Hey how is Gaara doing nowadays? I can't wait to tell him that I'm a Chuunin now. I wonder what shinobi rank he is?" Naruto looked down at Matsuri to see that she was crying. "Hey Matsuri, what's wrong? Are you ok?" Matsuri's body fell limp to the ground as she continued sobbing heavily.

Matsuri looked up at a confused Naruto, she wiped the tears from her eyes and coughed in an attempt to gain her voice. "Gaara-sensei… Gaara-sensei… Gaara-sensei died… last year."


	5. Chapter 5

**Bonds That Bind**

"What the hell do you mean he died!? He couldn't have… We were both going to be the kage's for out villages. Matsuri… Please tell me that you're lying." Naruto was in tears; he had dropped down on his knees and joined Matsuri on the dirt road. "Please Matsuri… It, it can't be."

Matsuri looked at the crushed blonde shinobi from Konohagakure; she didn't understand why he would be this upset about her sensei's death. As far as she had known, Naruto only briefly knew Gaara. "Naruto-san… Gaara-sensei did die last year. And the citizens of Sunagakure assisted in his murder." Matsuri turned her gaze away from the aw-struck ninja in front of her and focused on a fixed point on the busy dirt road that they had collapsed in.

"What do you mean?" Naruto couldn't comprehend what he had just been told.

"The people of Sunagakure hated Gaara-sensei; they would compare him to a monster or a demon. At times it seemed as if only Temari-san, Kankuro-san, and I were the only ones who liked him. Gaara-sensei was an outcast of the village. Nobody would go near him, let alone talk with him. The citizens feared him, despised him, and hated him. They wanted him out of their lives… for good. I was in a squad with Gaara-sensei, along with a Chuunin and a Jonin." Matsuri raised her face; it was a face of loss and despair.

Naruto's face also showed despair, as well as anger and hatred. He knew what kind of torment Gaara had gone through. He turned his face towards Matsuri who was, in a sense, 'lost'. "Matsuri, lets continue your story somewhere other than the road" He gave her a weak and very fake smile, in an attempt to somehow make the atmosphere more enjoyable. Naruto helped Matsuri up and they started to walk. Her facial expression had not changed, and Naruto didn't have it in him to try and cheer her up. He too was essentially 'broken' from the tragic news of the death of one of his few precious people. They stopped at a local shop and Naruto ordered a small meal for each of them. Matsuri's face changed into a look of slight surprise and gratefulness when she had realized what Naruto had done.

"Thank you Naruto-san." As they began to eat their meal, she continued the story from where she had left off. "Our squad was on patrol near the border of the Land of Wind, and the Land of Earth. We had only just arrived at our designated area of patrol when we encountered two individuals wearing black cloaks with red clouds."

'_Akatsuki.' _Naruto knew well of the organization. Whenever he and Jiraiya would have a break in his training routine, Jiraiya would take it upon himself to inform Naruto of Akatsuki and taught him everything that he thought Naruto should know.

Matsuri began her story once more. "The two men we encountered were missing nin, one from Iwagakure and the other from Sunagakure. Gaara-sensei referred to them as 'Akatsuki'. This was the first I had ever heard the name. One of the men reached his hands into pouches worn on his sides and started to walk towards us. When he reached our squad he said, 'Well thank you very much Samoshii-san. You saved us a lot of trouble by bringing the Jinchuuriki to us.' Our squad's Jonin, Samoshii, responded. 'Not at all Deidara-sama, you're the one doing us a favor. Please take him.' Gaara-sensei didn't look surprised that he had been stabbed in the back; he just calmly walked away from our squad into a clearing. As Gaara-sensei left, my two former teammates started to laugh. I broke out in tears and screamed at them. Wanting to know how they could do such a thing. I will remember the reply I received for the rest of my life, 'Just shut up and watch Matsuri-san. Finally as of today, that demon that has plagued our village for over 15 years will die.' I looked over my shoulder and saw that Gaara-sensei had begun fighting the Akatsuki member that had identified himself as Deidara. I started towards the fight, determined that I would kill Deidara myself if Gaara-sensei could not when Samoshii restrained me with a binding jutsu. I continued to beg them to go and assist Gaara-sensei; I told them that he wasn't a monster. But they wouldn't listen, and after numerous pleads, they knocked me out. The last thing I saw was Gaara-sensei fighting Deidara in the skies… When I woke up, I was in the hospital and everyone around me was rejoicing. I began to think that Gaara-sensei had beaten the two men from Akatsuki, my spirits were lifted. I ran out into the hallway and asked what had happened."

Matsuri paused for what seemed like an eternity to Naruto, but the message was clear.

"They said, 'We are free, the demon has finally been slain.' I couldn't believe them, I ran from person to person, left the hospital and asked people everywhere, but the answer was the same. Gaara-sensei had died, and the citizens rejoiced." Matsuri stared down at the wooden table they had been served on, as more tears fell from her glazed eyes and landed on the polished surface.

"Those bastards!" Naruto slammed his fist on the table, sending a crack to run along the length of the wood. "How could anyone be so… so…" Naruto's shoulders shook up and down as he cried once more for his fallen friend. "I'm sorry Matsuri, I'm sorry that I wasn't there to help Gaara." Naruto left Matsuri after paying for the meal and walked down the main strip in the business district.

As he walked past the numerous shops and booths set up for the day, he noticed the stares from the people. _'Again with the damn stares!'_ Naruto started starring back at them, and in one instance actually yelled at one of them. This in turn caused the store clerk to run to the back of his store and hide. _'I've got to get away from all this; I have to go clear my head.'_ Naruto jumped to the rooftops of Konoha and made his way out of the city and into the forests. Jumping from branch to branch he eventually came to a small waterfall in the center of a clearing. It was dusk by the time he had arrived; so the sky was an amazing orange and yellow. The sun was slipping under the horizon and the moon was just becoming visible. He leapt to the ground and walked to the base of a tree that overlooked the small paradise and sat against it. Naruto closed his eyes and listened to the steady melody being played by the waterfall and crickets. Slowly, he drifted off into sleep.

'_Sand, where am I? I'm in a desert? But how? That's right! Gaara! Where is he, I have to find him. I need to save him!' A dark red cloud appears above Naruto, riding the cloud are two members of Akatsuki and in their hands is Gaara's body. 'You bastards! Let Gaara go! Come down here!' The cloud starts to move away and Naruto gives chase. 'I won't let you get away! Do you hear me? You're not getting away from me. I'll kill you!'_

"Gaara!" Naruto awakes to find himself soaking in sweat and lying next to the tree at his little paradise. _'That dream… Gaara. I won't let them get away with it Gaara. I'll make every one of those pieces of trash pay.'_ The blonde gets up and starts walking back to his village. He had stayed out for the night and is only returning now that the sun is rising to his back and giving light to his path towards home. As he reached the gates that gave entrance to his city he noticed underneath it was a certain red head he had become very familiar with. "Hey Yugito!" Naruto yelled out towards his previous 'mission objective'.

Yugito turned around to see Naruto walking in to town from the forest area. "Oh hey Naruto-kun!" she addressed her former stalker. "Listen Naruto-kun, if you have a moment, I would like to discuss something with you."

"Umm… sure I can talk for a while."

Naruto lead Yugito away from the gate and towards the training areas. They continued walking until they were out of earshot of anyone from the city and then Yugito spoke. "Naruto-kun, how come I get the feeling that you weren't really in the chuunin exams to become a chuunin?"

"Well…" _'The mission is over now, I don't see why I can't tell her.'_ "I was on a mission to find you in the chuunin exams."

"Me? But why me?"

"We knew of a possible Jinchuuriki participating in the exams, and we had to closely monitor the situation to ensure that the Jinchuuriki's Biju's chakra wouldn't cause a problem to the exams."

Yugito stopped walking, stunned over the information that she had just heard. "But, how did you know that I'm a Jinchuuriki?"

"I had felt your Biju's chakra one night by coincidence and knew that it was from a Jinchuuriki."

"But how could you tell it was me? After all, I never used any of the demon's chakra while I was in the exams until the very end when you showed up."

"I could just tell from when you used your own chakra. After being sealed with a Biju for such a long time, your chakra begins to blend with one another. The times for how long that blend starts to happen depends on how often you use your Biju's chakra and it also depends on the nature of the seal which keeps the Biju locked inside of you."

"Amazing, but how do you know so much about Jinchuuriki?"

"I… studied with the sannin Jiraiya for three years. He knows a lot in regards to Jinchuuriki and Akatsuki." Yugito tensed as Naruto mentioned the name Akatsuki.

"Akatsuki." Yugito paused to organize her thoughts. "The organization comprised of ten missing nin from multiple villages. Each with their own unique and deadly jutsus. They quest to capture the Jinchuuriki and harvest the demons within them for their own use."

"Oh, so you have heard of them." Naruto was impressed that she knew so much, but he supposes that she would have to know at least that much information given the fact that she herself is what they're hunting.

"Yes, they infiltrated Kumogakure not too long ago to capture me. But they never did for some unknown reason. The only way we even knew about the attempt was that they had left a message for us to find, taunting us."

Hinata had been watching Naruto and this mysterious kunoichi for the past half of their conversation. She had been taking shelter in a tree after an embarrassment at the Hyuuga Compound earlier. She was sparring with Hanabi as normal, yet this time when she lost to her little sister. Her father told Hanabi to continue the fight; even though it was clear that Hinata had lost. When Hanabi refused, Hiashi blamed Hinata for making Hanabi weak like herself and slapped her across the face. Hiashi then dragged Hanabi into a separate training dojo and dismissed Hinata telling her that she was 'weak and useless'. Hinata left the compound and headed towards her own 'special place'. This was the training grounds that Naruto had spoken to her before the chuunin exams three years prior and told her that he liked people like her. She had spent much time her during Naruto's three years training, whether it was taking refuge from the Hyuuga Compound and her father, or just to pass the time with daydreams.

"I'm sorry to hear that, I just discovered that I had lost a good friend to them. He was turned in to them by his own village. They're all nothing but a load of trash, they don't have the right to call themselves ninja. It makes me sick."

"You must be lucky that you don't have to deal with all of that Naruto-kun, or does Konohagakure have a Jinchuuriki as well?"

"Well…" _'Should I tell her? She wouldn't run like everyone else would, she would relate to me. It may be good for me to get this off my chest.'_ "The truth is I haven't been completely honest with you. It is true that I studied with Jiraiya and he did teach me a lot, but I'm actually a Jinchuuriki as well." Naruto analyzed Yugito's face, searching for an expression after he had admitted to her his biggest secret. The expression he found was one of relief.

"Really? You hide it so well, I had no idea. I have to say, it really feels good to talk with another Jinchuuriki."

"Yea, it is a relief."

Naruto and Yugito continued their walk across the numerous training grounds; each telling their stories of grief and sadness that came along with being a Jinchuuriki. Then they discovered through each other's stories, certain things that made them kind of glad that they had what they did inside of them.

Hinata sat in her tree, her escape from the realities that awaite her past it's leaves, shocked by the news that she had learned. _'Naruto-kun has a demon inside of him?!'_


	6. Chapter 6

**Bonds That Bind**

'_Naruto-kun has a demon inside of him?!'_ Hinata's mind raced; shocked by the news that it had just take in. _'But, how? What demon? How is that possible? That doesn't make any sense. It isn't possible to have a demon inside of you. Right? If were true, than why haven't I heard about it before? No one has ever said anything about this. But, it does seem like everyone hates Naruto-kun; I've never been able to understand that. But surely if it were indeed fact because he had a demon… Naruto-kun._ Hinata leapt down from her tree and ran towards the direction Naruto and Yugito had headed.

"So, Naruto-kun, your friend, I take it that he was a Jinchuuriki?" Yugito had begun exploring Naruto's past and present life. Taking in all of the knowledge he had to offer; which she discovered, wasn't all that much.

Naruto's face scowled when the thought of Gaara being betrayed by his own village resurfaced in his thought. "Yea." He replied, with a hint of sadness in his voice. "He had the Shukaku, Ichibi, sealed into him." Naruto started to imagine the battle that Gaara fought against Akatsuki, and then he pictured them prying the demon entity out from Gaara's limp body. Naruto wanted to just level Sunagakure.

"Really." Yugito had slowed her speech patterns to feign remorse. She knew that Naruto was clearly being torn apart on the inside from the loss of his friend. "May I ask what Biju you have?"

"Huh?" Naruto's thoughts were brought back to reality.

"Your Biju, which one is it?"

"You tell me yours first."

"So cheap." Yugito rolled her eyes in response. "I have the Nibi, it's a demon cat. It's really good with fire techniques; that's why I can use fire Jutsus so well."

"Wow that's pretty useful, I can't even use fire Jutsus."

"Well what about you? Which one do you have?"

"Oh, well I…"

"Na-Naruto-kun!" Naruto looked away from Yugito to see the Huuyga heiress running towards him. When she arrived, he noticed that there appeared to be traces of tears on the cheeks of her face. Her eyes were bloodshot and her body was badly bruised. "Naruto-k-kun, I have t-t-to dis-cuss something w-with you."

Naruto was bewildered at Hinata's appearance, let alone her attitude. By now, he thought, she would have normally fainted. "What about?" he inquired.

"J-just please, I-I-I need to s-speak with you." Hinata was trying her best not to stutter, she had spent hours alone practicing. But she was so confused about what she had learned that she became distraught.

"Ok Hinata, Yugito. I'm sorry; we'll have to finish this conversation another time." Yugito nodded as Naruto followed Hinata towards where she came from. Hinata's mind raced, _'How am I going to do this, I can't just ask him right away can I? No, but, I don't know what else to say. I, I have to get this over with. I need to know for sure. I need to hear it from Naruto-kun.'_ Hinata quickly stopped and turned around to confront Naruto.

"Na-Naruto-kun, I-I need t-to know something."

Naruto was confused at what she could possibly want to know from him. "Sure thing Hinata, what is it?"

"Do y-you h-have…" Hinata couldn't get the words out, she was worried what the answer would be. "D-Do y-y-you ha-ve a-a…"

"Have what Hinata?"

"D-Do you h-have…" She couldn't take it, her thoughts were exploding. Her mind was racing between the possible answers, it was driving her insane. "DO YOU HAVE A DEMON INSIDE OF YOU?!" Hinata covered her mouth, she couldn't believe what she had just accused Naruto of, her Naruto. She looked out towards his face. It was frozen in fear, shock, horror, and sadness; all bundled into one frozen look.

"W-Why d-do you ask?" Naruto's voice was barely audible, but being the quite and shy type that Hinata was, she could understand him clearly.

"F-Forgive me, b-but I w-was in that t-tree that you a-a-and she passed by in, a-and I o-verheard wh-a-at you were sa-saying." Hinata felt as if she could burst into tears and collapse onto the ground at any second. Her knees were shaking and her tear ducts were quickly filling to their brim, but she endured it, and she continued to stand. She watched Naruto, who's facial expression had yet to change.

"I-I…" Naruto was caught. He'd rather die than expose himself as the Jinchuuriki for the Kyuubi. The very demon that had attacked his village fifteen years earlier, and destroyed so much, and killed so many. "I-uh" _'What do I do! I can't tell her! But she already knows! But if I tell her than she'll hate me, scream at me and think of me as a monster. She'll probably tell everyone, I'll be hated by both the adults and my teammates. I can't live like that; what if they turn on me like Gaara's village did to him? No, the Hokage wouldn't allow that. Right?'_ "N-No Hinata, you must have misheard." Naruto attempted his usual fake big grin, but could only manage a small semi-smile.

"I-I didn't m-m-mishear N-Naruto-kun. P-Please t-tell me. I-I want to know." Hinata's eyes pleaded with Naruto, begging for the truth.

"I-I…" _'What do I do, she's just waiting for me to confirm it. So she can tell everyone that I'm a monster. Why can't they see that I'm not that despicable demon. Why can't they see me for who I am?'_ "I-I'm sorry." Naruto suddenly vanished away from where he once stood. Hinata quickly activated her Byakugan and scanned the area for Naruto, she found him surprisingly far away running in the forest away from the village. She quickly gave chase.

'_Please tell me Naruto-kun. I have to know.'_ Naruto knew that Hinata was following him, but he didn't want to do anything to her that could put her in danger.

'_What can I do, can't she just forget it. Damnit! How could I have been so stupid, why did I admit to being a Jinchuuriki like that out in the open. IDIOT!'_ Hinata continued to leave her Byakugan activated, she watched Naruto running from her. She looked at him more clearly and saw that he had tears falling behind his fleeing body. The chase continued for more than an hour until Naruto finally stopped near a small waterfall in a clearing. By the time Hinata had caught up to Naruto, he was sitting against a tree with his knees up to his shoulders and with his head covered up by his arms, crying. It broke Hinata's heart to see her Naruto like this, it was completely unlike him. She was used to his rambunctious, care-free attitude that he flashed everywhere he went along with his wide, toothy grin. But now, she knew that he had a burden, a heavy burden that he alone carried underneath that care-free mask which he always wore.

Hinata walked over to the sobbing Naruto and sat down next to him. "Naruto-k-kun, ple-please tell me."

"Hinata, I-I am not a demon." He continued to have his face hidden from view, hidden from the look of horror that must be on her face right now, hidden from the pain that he feels when he sees the glares of horror and anger directed towards him.

"I-I know that Nar-uto-kun. When I w-was chasing you, I realized th-that e-even if you did h-have a demon inside o-of you. It s-s-still doesn't change wh-who you are."

Naruto sobs ceased once he heard what Hinata had said. He looked up to see her sitting next to him, her knees brought up to her face with her arms rapped around her legs, as she gazed past her kneecaps into the waterfall in front of the two. "Hinata…"

"Naruto-kun, I-I've w-watched you for a-a long time, and from what I've seen, a-and from what I know. You are no demon, y-you're simply just, you." Hinata took her gaze off of the falling water in front of her and looked over at Naruto. His eyes were fixated on hers; they were wide and slightly red from the tears, his mouth hung open slightly and his face showed a look of admiration.

"H-Hinata…" Naruto leaned towards the lavender-eyed girl and hugged her intently. "Thank you."

Hinata was stunned by his move of affection. _'What! Did Naruto-kun just, he still his. He's hugging me! This is like a dream.' _Hinata pulled her arms out from his grasp and returned the hug, madly blushing at the same time. They held each other for what seemed like hours until Naruto leaned up and out of Hinata's warm embrace. He loved the feeling, not in a sexual way, but in a comforting way, where he had someone that knew him for who is; rather than what's inside of him.

Naruto sat back up against the tree, but also leaned against Hinata's shoulder. He enjoyed the comforting feeling that he received from it. "Hinata, if I tell you about me, can you please promise not to tell anyone?"

Hinata looked over to the face of her dreams, and the eyes that were seeking approval. "I promise."

Naruto turned his gaze towards the waterfall and started. "Fifteen years ago, the demon fox lord Kyuubi attacked our village. He killed many great shinobi including the Forth Hokage. He was an unstoppable force; his destruction was reported as a natural disaster. And he is still alive."

"But I thought the Forth Hokage killed the Kyuubi along with himself?"

"No, that was because of a law made by the Third Hokage. It proclaimed that it was a punishable offense to ever speak of what really happened that night. I'm sure that you have noticed all of the hate and disgust that I get from the adults. Well that's because when the Forth died; he knew the Kyuubi was too powerful to kill. So he instead sealed it within the body of a newborn… Me." Naruto looked at Hinata's face wondering of the reaction it would give as a result to his story, but he discovered her starring back at him, wanting to know more. "I was my understanding that the Forth thought that the village would think of me as a hero, a jail-keeper of the demon that terrorized us. But instead the villagers merely think of me as the demon itself, they can't openly speak about it because of the Thirds law, yet they all hate me. Well, most of them, some of them don't know about the Kyuubi at all, and some understand that I'm not a demon. That's why I want to become Hokage so bad Hinata, I want to show this village that I'm not the demon that killed so many of it's ninja, but rather that I can prove to them that I can make this village better."

Hinata stared at Naruto, _'There he is, there is the Naruto that I know and love.'_ She leaned her head on his shoulder and stared of into the small paradise. "I know you can do it Naruto-kun."

"Thank you again Hinata." And with that the two of them stared at the natural beauty in front of them, taking in all that it had to offer.

After a few minutes, Hinata was fast asleep on Naruto's shoulder. Hey looked down at her soft face and her flowing dark blue hair. _'Heh, she's kind of cute when she's sleeping.'_ He looked back at the scenery in front of them and began to think yet again about Gaara. _'I can't believe that I wasn't there for Gaara, when he really needed me. And his filthy village, it's unforgivable what they did. I'll be there next time Akatsuki tries to take the life of another one of my friends. Wait! What about Yugito? They'll undoubtedly make another attempt to take her Biju. I have to help her, but what about all of the other Jinchuuriki's out there? Damn those Akatsuki. They're going to slowly take all of the Jinchuuriki one by one. Damn them! I can't believe Tsunade-obaachan's strategy. Doesn't she understand that it won't work?! If only I could… THAT'S IT!'_

"Hey Hinata, wake up." Naruto gently shook Hinata until she awoke from her slumber.

Hinata gasped when she saw that Naruto was the one who woke her up, and then the memories from earlier in the day cam back. "Yes Naruto-kun?"

"Sorry Hinata, I have to go to see Tsunade about something." Naruto got up from his paradise and stretched out his muscles.

"Oh, Ok then Naruto-kun."

"Hey Hinata! You didn't stutter!" Naruto congratulated her with his grin as Hinata retraced her words.

"You're right! Thank you N-Naruto-kun." Hinata caught her stutter that time and silently yelled at herself.

"Oh, well. Almost, I'll see you later Hinata." As Naruto jumped into the trees, Hinata recapped what had happened earlier. _'Did I really fall asleep on his shoulder? Oh, this is better than my dreams.'_ Naruto quickly appeared behind the still waking up Hinata, and startled her with another hug. "Thanks again for earlier Hinata, I'm glad I finally told someone about it." Hinata grabbed the arms that were wrapped in front of her and looked behind her.

"You're welcome Naruto-kun."

Naruto smiled wide and let go, "Hah, you didn't stutter again." Naruto jumped once again into the trees and headed back towards his village. Happier than he could ever remember.

Hinata stayed back at the waterfall, going over her confrontation with Naruto repeatedly. Each time blushing harder and harder until she finally fainted when remembering the second hug Naruto gave her.

Naruto arrived into town and headed straight for the Hokage's building with a strategy in his mind that he was sure would be a winner. He ran through the circular corridors that were painted a bright red until he made it to the Hokage's office. He knocked and when he heard the words to enter, he promptly did so. Tsunade was surprised that Naruto had been the one to knock at her door. Usually he would just leap through an open window or nearly break the door down barging in. "Naruto, what is the occasion?" Tsunade was intrigued already with whatever Naruto wanted to discuss with her, merely by the way he was acting.

"Baachan, I've been thinking a lot about Akatsuki lately and after hearing about Gaara's death, I've come up with a good strategy that I think you will like. Akatsuki is already on the move, kidnapping Jinchuuriki after Jinchuuriki, right?" Tsunade nodded her head in approval. "Well, what if we form a team and go from village to village gathering the Jinchuuriki ourselves before Akatsuki does?"

"What are you saying Naruto?" Tsunade didn't fully understand Naruto's plan.

"I'm saying that, we get all of the Jinchuuriki together, and then we make a last stand against Akatsuki as a whole. Once and for all."


	7. Chapter 7

**Bonds That Bind**

Hinata awoke to discover that she was still at the small sample of paradise within the multiple forests in the Land of Fire. Dusk was falling down upon her and it painted the sky with an amazing bright orange and red that was reflected in the many clouds floating above her. It was a perfect end to one of the best days of her life. She fought her body in order to get up off of the soft grass that had served as her napping place for the better part of the day and started walking back towards her home; once more, recapping the events that had happened earlier that day and brought her one step closer to her love.

"I'm saying that, we get all of the Jinchuuriki together, and then we make a last stand against Akatsuki as a whole. Once and for all." Naruto was headstrong in his plan. Confident that Tsunade would adopt it as her main strategy for combating The Akatsuki.

"I'm sorry Naruto, but I am not going to be able to commit to that plan." Tsunade stated in a calm and clear tone while she stared blankly past Naruto and seemingly into the wall that faced her.

"What! Why the hell not?!"

"Your strategy does not follow the direction that Konoha has already committed to. It is not for this village."

"It's the perfect strategy to fighting Akatsuki and you know it!"

"It is a good strategy Naruto, I'm not denying that. However, I told you once before that Konoha's plans for dealing with the Akatsuki and Orochimaru were to let them wage war with each other before we made a move. I am not able to send our shinobi out across our borders in an attempt to gather the remaining Jinchuuriki together and make a stand."

"Damnit to hell Baachan! Don't you understand that if you go through with that you're just going to allow more Jinchuuriki to be killed? And what about Sasuke?! Do you care about any of their lives?!"

"Enough Naruto! Don't you dare through the value of life in front of me as if it were a mere piece of trash! You don't understand what I have to consider when I make choices that involve possible human sacrifice."

Naruto's eyes glazed over as he looked down at the brown, polished floor beneath him. Thoughts of Sasuke and Gaara went through his head. _'There is no helping it then. I'll just have to go on my own. I'll possibly be branded as a traitor. It doesn't matter. If I can put a stop to Akatsuki and save Sasuke from that snake monster… It'll be worth it.'_

Naruto slowly turned and began walking towards the door to the Hokage's office. Tsunade could tell that he was upset, and had a pretty good idea if the thoughts going through his head right now. "Naruto." Naruto stopped; no more than a foot away from the door and beginning of his future as a missing nin. "Come over here for a moment; let me inform you of something. And then if you still want to go against Konoha than go ahead."

Naruto's body twitched; stunned that she could predict his actions. _'That's the Hokage for you.'_ He mussed to himself as he approached the Hokage's desk and sat down.

"Firstly let me explain that it wasn't my strategy that Konoha sits by idly and waits for one side to destroy the other before we move. The village council basically forced their tactics upon me and there wasn't much I could do to stop it; unless I wished for a revolution and a possible civil war to erupt within my own village. That is why I haven't dedicated more than reconnaissance units towards the situation with Akatsuki and Orochimaru."

Naruto listened to the Hokage's monologue, taking in every word that came out of her mouth. "But, can't you override them? I mean, you have greater authority right?"

"I could override them in certain areas pertaining to Konoha's military, but there are still individual ninja units that are only loyal to the village council. The threat of a war amongst us was just too high."

"But! They can't! They don't have the …"

"Enough Naruto! What's done is done. All that matters is what lies ahead. Now I have a mission for you. And I think that you'll enjoy it. You will be assigned to a four-man squad along with your mentor, Jiraiya. It is an S-ranked mission. Your objective will be to gain intelligence on organization known as Akatsuki. Sadly, you and your squad will not be able to contact Konoha for quite some time. It's a shame that you won't have to report in to me in regards to your locations and activities." Tsunade winked at Naruto who continued to sit in his chair, staring up at the seemingly twenty year-old Hokage. "Now go and meet up with Jiraiya, he should be working on his perverted book somewhere. You two together will come up with the remaining two members for your squad before you leave for you mission tomorrow."

Tsunade watched as the bewildered blonde left her office. _'Please tell me that Naruto understood what I was saying. He truly is unpredictable. Coming up with the same strategy that Jiraiya and I had, and then becoming oblivious to my hints at its approval. Oh well, Jiraiya should state it blatantly enough for him to understand.'_ Tsunade sat back down in her chair overlooking the village that she had sworn to protect; all the while staring up at the sky that loomed overhead.

Naruto left the Hokage's office and started looking for his perverted mentor. He was confused about how the Hokage was acting when she told him of his mission. So he decided that he should talk with Jiraiya about it and see what he knew that she wasn't telling him. Naruto's first stop on his search was the hot springs. He figured that there would be a lot of women there for a relaxing evening and concluded that it was perfect ero-sennin territory.

He arrived at the hot springs and heard the sounds of laughter and conversations coming from the women's area, but couldn't find his target. Next he thought he would check hospital. Naruto had caught he mentor numerous times hitting on the nurses of different hospitals during his training.

Naruto arrived at his least favorite place on earth and entered the lobby. Ignoring the stares he received from the older employees of the facility, he headed for the help desk and asked they had seen his target sannin. Unfortunately they hadn't seen him, so Naruto thought of one more possible location for his sensei to be hiding. Naruto headed towards the apartment complexes of Konoha.

He walked up the stairs of the two story apartment complex and went down the uninteresting hallway until he arrived at Jiraiya's door. Naruto knocked on the door and was surprised to see a serious looking Jiraiya answer his call. "Hey Ero-Sennin, why aren't you spying on innocent women like normal?" Naruto inquired.

"Naruto please come in, I have something to discuss with you. It's regarding the reconnaissance mission that you received from the Hokage." Jiraiya led the blonde chuunin through his house and towards the balcony that overlooked the residential district of Konoha. "Listen Naruto, we aren't really going to do reconnaissance on Akatsuki. Our true mission is an attempt to unite the remaining Jinchuuriki and bring them back to Konoha in preparations for a last stand against Akatsuki."

"But Baachan couldn't do that idea. I just asked her. She said that the council was overruling her in the strategy for Akatsuki and Orochimaru." Naruto was clearly confused.

"You idiot, how can my apprentice be so dense? She was ex-communicating you; turning a blind eye, if you will. Basically she sent us out on a mission that didn't necessarily require us to bring back anything or accomplish a physical objective, and we don't report in to Konoha for long periods of time. We're free to do what we want, or in this case, unite the Jinchuuriki without the council's knowing."

"Oh, I see. So that's why she winked."

"She even winked at you? My God you're stupid."

"Hey you shut up you perverted old man!"

"I'm not perverted! It's research for my novel!"

"For the last time! That is no novel! It's just a dirty old book for old people with no love lives!"

"Why you…"

**Bang. Bang. Bang. "Hey you keep it down over there or I'll call the landlord!"** One of Jiraiya's close neighbors yelled out.

"Hehehe, we're sorry about that. It won't happen again." Jiraiya responded in a sheepish manner. "Anyway Naruto, we need to come up with another two team members. They should be someone that you're close to; maybe someone you have done a mission with in the past or your old teammate."

"Why is that?"

"Because they are going to have to find out about the Kyuubi inside of you sometime during the course of the mission, and it would be easier if it was someone that knew you well enough that it wouldn't change their opinion of you."

"Oh, well that makes sense. Hmm, I think Sakura-chan should be one of them. She knows me really well and she is a medical ninja, she could really come in handy if we got into battle."

"Makes sense, do you have any idea about the other one?"

"Well, Kakashi-sensei would work out well. He already knows about the Kyuubi and he is one of the best shinobi in the village."

"That is true, but unfortunately Kakashi is not available. I understand that Tsunade is going to send him out on his own mission shortly after we depart."

"Damn, he would have been a good one too."

"Well, Naruto, we could have an ANBU member fill the spot."

"No, those guys kind of creep me out. I don't like how they always cover their faces and never seem to talk a lot."

"Well, what are we going to do about the fourth slot? Oh you know what we need? We should have someone with some experience in tracking or scouting. It will definitely come in hand when we need to avoid being detected by Akatsuki."

"Like a Byakugan user?" Naruto asked.

"That would be perfect."

"Oh I know! What about Hinata. She would fit the role well."

"I'm not sure about her Naruto, you two aren't really close. She might react in a bad way when she finds out about your little friend." Jiraiya knew that Hinata was anything short of being obsessed with Naruto, but he also knew that Naruto has been completely oblivious to it all and probably didn't even know that she existed.

"Well, funny story…" Naruto scratched the back of his head with a hand while he smiled with is toothy grin. "She uh, kind of already knows."

"Wait, what?"

"Yea, I was talking with another Jinchuuriki from the chuunin exams about our Biju and she overheard."

"So, how did she react?"

"Really well, it was even enjoyable for the most part. She accepted me for who I am and not what's inside of me. It was really comforting all in all." Naruto started recapping what had happened earlier in the day.

"Well then, it's settled. I want you to stop by each of their homes tonight and inform them of the mission. I'll head over to Tsunade's and tell her who is in our squad. We'll meet at the gates of Konoha tomorrow morning. Don't be late."

"Right!" Exclaimed Naruto with a positive and determined tone.

Naruto leapt off of the balcony and headed towards Sakura's home, jumping from rooftop to rooftop as the night finally engulfed the village and stars lit Naruto's path.

Naruto arrived at Sakura's home a little bit before 9:00 pm. _'I hope she isn't asleep yet.'_ He rang the doorbell and greeted by an annoyed Sakura.

"Naruto, what on earth are you doing? Do you have any idea what time it is?"

"Yea, sorry about that Sakura-chan. Listen, we've just been assigned a mission. The squad is going to be you, me, Ero-Sennin, and Hinata. We leave tomorrow morning, so meet us at the gate."

"Wait, what mission? Tsunade-sama didn't tell me anything about this."

"It's an S-rank and an urgent one too. Oh, and we are going to be away from Konoha for a long time so be prepared."

Sakura was confused and tired, and she didn't like getting her mission info from Naruto. "Ok listen Naruto, I'll talk to Tsunade-sama about this in the morning but for right now, please let me sleep."

Sakura started to close her door but was stunned when Naruto put his foot in its path and stopped it from being shut. "I'm serious Sakura-chan, this is an important mission and it will help us find Sasuke." Sakura saw the look of determination and seriousness in Naruto's eyes.

"Sas-Sasuke-kun?"

"Yes, so check with Baachan if you want but be sure to be at the Konoha gates in the morning." And with that Naruto ran down the empty road towards the Hyuuga Compound, leaving a pink-haired kunoichi that was going through old memories, in his wake.

Naruto arrived at the Hyuuga Compound late. Really late, it was on the other side of town from Sakura's and there didn't seem to be anyone awake. _'Man, I should have come here first before Sakura-chan's home.'_ He slowly approached the main gate and saw a guard standing before him.

"Hold it right there!" The guard called out. "Who are you and what are you doing here this late at night." It was almost pitch black leaving the guard and Naruto to only appear as silhouettes.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki and I have an urgent message for Hinata Hyuuga. She has been assigned a mission and needs to be prepared for departure tomorrow morning." Naruto responded in a calm manner.

"The fox brat?" The guard inquired, taunting Naruto with an unseen grin. "You have no business with Hinata-sama; get out of here before I kill you for trespassing."

"Listen you! Firstly you have no right to label me you piece of human trash. Secondly, you just broke the Third's law by calling me that. And last of all, you are about to break another Hokage's law by not allowing me to speak with Hinata!" Naruto was clearly furious with the guard, but he still has his objectives and need to accomplish them quickly.

"I doubt the Hokage would assign a mission that had both Hinata-sama and the fox brat on the same team, it would be doomed for failure from the start."

Suddenly another figure appeared from within the compound. "What is all this noise? Guard, what is going on out here?"

The guard dropped to one knee and bowed before the newly appeared figure. "Nothing to concern your self with Hiashi-sama."

"Like hell it isn't!" Naruto objected. "Hiashi, I need to speak with Hinata. She has been assigned a mission and needs to be ready to leave tomorrow morning."

"Very well, I have no use for her here anyways. Let Uzumaki pass." Hiashi said as he departed down the dark, square halls of the Hyuuga Compound.

Naruto walked followed the guard to Hinata's room and waited for him to leave before he attempted to contact Hinata. Once the guard was out of site, Naruto gently spoke. "Hinata, hey Hinata. Are you awake?" He pushed his ear against the paper wall as far as it would go without breaking through the barrier. "Hinata!" He heard someone stirring from inside and backed away from the entrance. Hinata came out in a light lavender long-sleeved top, and matching pants.

"Naruto-kun?! W-what are you doing here?" Hinata wasn't upset to be visited by her crush this late, but rather stunned that he came all the way there to see her.

"Listen Hinata, we've been assigned a mission. It's S-ranked and we'll be going away for a long time. So say your 'goodbyes' and get prepared. We leave tomorrow morning at the gate."

"W-We're in the same team?"

"Yes, all in all it's me, you, Ero-Sennin and Sakura-chan."

Hinata hated how Naruto gave Sakura the suffix 'chan' and not her, but she was still happy that Naruto was beginning to notice her after all of these years. "Oh, o-ok. And how long will it be?"

"To be honest, I'm not sure. But it could easily be between six and twelve months, maybe more."

Hinata's eyes went wide, she was absolutely stunned. _'Six to twelve months? Me and Naruto-kun. Oh this is truly the best day of my life!'_

Naruto noticed Hinata's reaction to the length, "Oh don't worry, we'll be back before you know it. You won't be away from home that long." Naruto flashed her his grin.

"Oh no Naruto-kun, I w-wasn't worried ab-bout that." Hinata smiled at his attempt to comfort her.

"Ok then, remember to be at Konoha's front gate tomorrow morning ready to go then!" Naruto started walking away and then turned around, "Don't forget to work on that stuttering problem, ok Hinata."

"I-I won't Naruto-kun!" Hinata watched the blond slowly disappear into the shadows of the compound before she went back to her room and back to her sleep; where her dreams were filled with being alone with her Naruto for the next six to twelve months.


	8. Chapter 8

**Bonds That Bind**

"_Quick! Send reinforcements to the main line! You there! Go and find out how the south perimeter is holding up." "HOKAGE-SAMA! THE ANBU HAVE BROKEN THROUGH THE EASTERN DISTRICT! THEY'RE ON A PATH STRAIGHT FOR OUR HEADQUARTERS!" "Quickly go and tell all central stations to begin the summoning! We can't let Konoha fall to them!"_

"Ah!" Naruto awoke from his dream in a coat of perspiration; panting and unsure whether his current surroundings were reality, or the blood-soaked battlefield which he had just envisioned. He wiped the sweat off of his face and then stared at his hand as the little clear droplets of sweat slid down his callus skin. "What… what was that dream?" Naruto gazed across the Konoha landscape which filled the view of his window. "It was a dream." The blonde shinobi arose from his bed and got dressed in his standard orange and black attire; looked once at his old team 7 picture, picked up his backpack, and headed out into the awakening city.

Naruto was a little ahead of schedule, but he had planned it that way. He headed off towards the Chuunin exam stadium. The exams were wrapping up and all that was left were the finals. Naruto knew that Yugito was planning to stay in town for the competition, he just had to find her. So, he did what anyone with a loud voice and ninja skills would do if they were in a hurry. "YUGITO! HEY YUGITO!" Naruto ran from crowd to crowd yelling her name until he received the response that he was searching for.

"Naruto-kun, what are you doing?" The red-headed kunoichi inquired.

"I'm going on a mission soon, but I wanted to talk with you quickly before I headed off." He finished his sentence with his wide smile.

"Ok, sure. But let's go somewhere a little less crowded."

"Sure thing, just follow me." Naruto led Yugito away from the stadium area and to an empty street corner a couple of blocks over. "Ok, don't tell anyone this, but the mission objective I have is to unite the remaining Jinchuuriki for a battle against the Akatsuki. If we just continue with what we're doing, then the Akatsuki will keep taking us out one by one; this is our only chance."

"Hey, that's a great idea Naruto-kun."

"Yea, well I wanted to let you know about it before we left. Do you want to join us?"

"Yes, I think that it's the only chance we have, but how long until we get everyone together?" Yugito's tone of voice had lost its enthusiasm.

"I don't know, but there is a good chance that the final stand will take place in Konoha. I'm sure that Baachan wouldn't mind you staying here until it happens."

"No Naruto-kun. I do want to take place in the battle, but I want to go home again before that time comes."

"Oh, ok well, just be careful Yugito. Akatsuki has come for you once already, please stay safe." Naruto became serious with this statement. He had already lost a great friend to Akatsuki; he wasn't about to let it happen again.

"I will Naruto-kun, stop by Kumogakure in a few months. I'll be ready to go with your team by then." Yugito finished her reply with a smile, though it was a very small one.

"Sure thing Yugito, just remember to be careful, and try to stay hidden as best you can."

"I will."

"Ok then" Naruto regained his spunky attitude, "I've got to get going, I'll see you in a few months Yugito!"

"Wait Naruto-kun! You never told me which one you are!"

"What do you mean?"

Yugito acted out a monster and Naruto got the point.

"Oh, well let's just say that my favorite number is nine." Naruto finished with a laugh and ran off towards the gate; leaving a very stunned Yugito behind him.

'_Naruto-kun has the Kyuubi no Yoko sealed within him?!'_

Naruto raced across the rooftops with the intentions of getting to the gate first. He felt as if he had been responsible for the mission after all, and he wanted to show his comrades that he was a mature and responsible ninja. After a few minutes of jumping, he could see the gates of Konoha. The towering red, wooden doors represented the power that Konoha could wield, and also reminded everyone that the city was, in a sense, a ninja fortress.

When Naruto finally reached the gate, he saw that he was not the first member of the newly formed team, but the second. A dreary eyed kunoichi sporting long a purple jacket with matching pants and long dark blue hair was sitting on a bench near the gate, dozing off. "Hey Hinata! What are you doing here so early?"

Hinata's eyes instantly shot open and fixed on the source of the voice. He eyes then relaxed, as she realized it was the blonde shinobi that she would be spending a lot of time with.

"Hinata? Hey Hinata? Are you ok?" Naruto had a puzzled look on his face as he thought of what could be wrong.

"Oh, sorry Naruto-kun, I didn't get much sleep last night." Hinata finished her response with a mild blush as her eyes left Nartuo's face and slowly drifted towards the ground.

"Ok, why not?"

Hinata obviously knew the reason, but only told half of it. "I was just excited that I've finally been assigned a mission. It has been a while since team 8 was deployed as the original unit. Ever since my father…"

"Hey you guys!" Sakura ran over to her new team, stopping Hinata's explanation in the process. "I'm not late am I?"

"No of course not Sakura-chan." Assured Naruto, "In fact, we're still waiting on Ero-Sennin."

"Naruto, why do you call Jiraiya-sama that all of the time, you should respect him as one of the legendary sannin of Konoha." Sakura stubbornly replied.

"Sakura, you don't want to know the reason, but be sure to always make sure that you're alone whenever you do something even remotely… uh, 'baring.'" Naruto finished his sentence with a snicker before Sakura bared her fist down onto his head.

Hinata just sat on the bench and enjoyed the interaction between her two new teammates. She had always hoped that Naruto would pay as much attention to her as he did Sakura, but she was confident that he would in time notice her as he notices Sakura.

"Sakura! You are the medical ninja of this team, you should be the one healing injuries, not the one inflicting them." Instructed Jiraiya in an unusually stern tone.

Everyone looked back towards the gate, surprised at Jiraiya's presence. "Ero-Sennin! When did you get here?!" Shouted Naruto.

"A while ago, now how many times have I told you not to refer to me as that in public! He hasn't said anything to you girls about me has he? If he has, then they're all lies! Unless they glorify me, then they're true." The toad sage smiled at his new team, while they returned his look with different looks of their own. "Anyway, If you are all ready, we will be departing now." Jiraiya and Naruto started out the gates of Konoha, only to be stopped by an annoyed Sakura.

"Hold it! You haven't even explained the mission to us yet? And what is this I hear about watching my back in private situations?" Sakura fumed, she always liked order in her life. Never did she want to go anywhere outside of Konoha without the proper information.

"First of all Sakura, I told you that if Naruto said anything about me that wasn't glorifying me, then it was a lie. And second, it is a reconnaissance mission, and I'll explain the details once we get out of town." And with that, the toad sage resumed his departure from the village of which he had sworn to protect. Followed by three chuunin ninja, all unsure of what lie ahead.

The team travels in silence through the bountiful forests of the Land of Fire. Each member residing in their own thoughts: Sakura wonders of the mission details, Hinata imagines the sleeping arrangements, Naruto thinks of an easy way to tell Sakura his secret, and Jiraiya ponders over his next installment of Icha Icha Paradise. As the sun begins to fall over the horizon, Jiraiya calls the team to a halt in order to set up camp, each member is surprised to have gone the entire day without talking amongst one another. Camp is set up, and the members gather round a fire that the Sannin had made.

"Ok, this mission isn't entirely reconnaissance. We have a very special mission, one which is vital to Konoha, as well as every other village. But before I continue, I think that Naruto has something that he needs to tell you Sakura."

Naruto tensed, he was confident that Sakura wouldn't react like any of the normal villagers would if he had shared his secret with them, but it was still incredibly difficult for him to confess his biggest secret; one that had been with him for over fifteen years. "Sakura-chan…" Naruto didn't look at her in the eyes, but merely faced her with his body as his vision focused on a point in the ground. "Sakura-chan, fifteen year's ago. The Yondaime died while saving his village… our village, from the Kyuubi no Yoko. You know of this story, correct?"

Sakura nodded in response and proceeded to tell the story. "The Kyuubi, a giant demon fox that had so much power to wield destruction, that it was classified as a natural disaster, attacked Konoha and was killed through the sacrifice of the Yondaime Hokage."

"Yes, well…" Naruto gulped, sweat began to form on his face, only to be magnified by the light of the dancing flames from the fire which sat a mere four feet away. "The Kyuubi wasn't destroyed. Instead the Yondaime…"

"But we all learned in the ninja academy that it was destroyed by the…" Sakura was interrupted by a soft, toned voice.

"P-Please Sakura-san, I-I wish to hear the story." Hinata looked up across the fire to a stunned Naruto and Sakura.

"Thank you Hinata." Hinata blushed and then stared back down to her fingers as Naruto began his tale once more. "The Kyuubi wasn't destroyed, it was too powerful for the Yondaime to kill, so instead he sacrificed his life in order to entrap the demon within the body of a newborn. He envisioned the child to be viewed by the village as a hero of sorts, a prison keeper of the demon, but instead the village viewed the child as the demon itself and shunned it from society. The Sandaime Hokage created a law, banning the truth of what happened in regards to the Kyuubi in an effort to stop the spread of hatred between generations…" Naruto looked up at Sakura with a smile, "I'm sure you've noticed that the adults of Konoha don't enjoy my company all that much."

Sakura sat, dumbfounded, staring at Naruto's face and his smile. A smile of sarcasm and sorrow.

"You see Sakura-chan, I was the child that the Yondaime sealed the Kyuubi into."

Sakura's mind started to race as events of her's and Naruto's pasts which were at times unexplainable, suddenly made sense and she began to cry. She stood up and approached Naruto, still crying and wrapped her arms around him, then she brought her lips up to his ear and whispered two words to him. "Thank you." Naruto began to tear up and he raised his arms around Sakura and they held each other for a few moments before Sakura broke the bond and returned to her seat, slight traces of tears still ran down her face.

Hinata was stunned by the sudden display of affection, but only looked down into the fire as small tears of her own began to fall.

Jiraiya, who had been observing, began to change the subject. "Well, now that that is out of the way, let us get started on the mission briefing. Our mission is to go out and gather up as many Jinchuuriki, those are demon hosts, and bring them back to Konoha for a last stand against the organization known as Akatsuki. They have been taking Jinchuuriki one by one and stealing the demons which they have sealed within them for reasons which are still unknown." Jiraiya paused while the information and gravity of the mission sank in. "Our first target is the Yonbi, we don't know much about the Jinchuuriki other than it resides in the Land of the Moon, our objective is to make contact and persuade it to join forces with us."

After the briefing, the team listened to stories of Naruto and Jiraiya's training and then adjourned to their separate tents.

They rose early, packed up their camp, and continued on the path towards the Land of the Moon. The trip spanned the time of nine days before they arrived at the new change of scenery. The sky was light and clear during the day, but not bright in any way, and the night was filled with stars which seemed to encircle the moon as if it were a choreographed piece of art.

They had received a letter from Tsunade during the journey to the Land of the Moon and learned that the Jinchuuriki's name is Takago Buke. The team asked around the few distanced villages of the Land of the Moon, but had no luck in locating their target. They began to set up camp for another uneventful night.

Naruto began to gather wood for the fire when he noticed a blue-ish tinted piece of metal on his right ring finger. He raised his hand to inspect it more closely and remembered that it had been the dove-shaped ring that Hinata had given him for good luck during the chuunin exams. The thought of the gift and Hinata made him smile as he remembered how she had accepted him as who he was when she found out about the Kyuubi. _'I really do like people like her.'_ He gathered the remaining wood and headed back towards the camp site.

"Hey Hinata."

Hinata looked up from her tent which she was setting up and stared at the smile that Naruto had put up for her.

"Hinata, I forgot to return this ring to you after the chuunin exams."

"Oh, p-please Naruto-kun, don't worry about it."

"But it was your mother's piece of jewelry, isn't it precious to you?" Naruto inquired.

"Of c-course it is, b-but it is still bringing you luck, and your l-luck is precious to m-me as well." Hinata blushed madly and dug her face into the tent that she was working on.

Naruto put his firewood down and walked towards where Hinata was desperately trying to hide in her unassembled tent. He moved one of the flaps of fabric that was covering her face and stared at her lavender colored eyes. "Thank you very much Hinata."

Hinata was shocked by his reaction to her comment and just stared back into his blue eyes which just seemed to shout 'happiness' to her. She opened her mouth to speak, but before any words could be formed. A giant gust of wind swept through the campsite and almost knocked the ninja off their feet.

Naruto quickly stood up, investigating the source of the gust. He was joined by Sakura and Hinata. The three of them stood at an unknown shinobi in front of them. He wore the symbol of Getsugakure on his forehead and was dressed in snug fitting, dark blue attire. From his first appearance, he looked to be in his mid twenties.

Jiraiya suddenly stepped out from behind a tree and addressed the man. "Who are you?!"

The mysterious shinobi responded. "It is my understanding that you four have been searching for me these past few days, I am Takago Buke, The Wind Warrior!"


	9. Chapter 9

"The Wind Warrior?! What kind of lame-ass name is that?!" Naruto Exclaimed.

"Screw you! What would you know you stupid little kid. What kind of ninja wears orange? You don't know anything!"

Naruto got pissed at this remark and then killed the wind warrior. Sakura was shocked at Naruto's reaction and proceeded to chew him out like she always does, such a bitch. Hinata didn't much care for Sakura being a dyke and then killed her. Naruto was impressed with Hinata's boldness in defending him from the pink haired kunoichi, and then they banged. Jiraiya watched, and then used the inspiration for his newest and best selling novel.

Barrack Obama picked up a copy of the latest bang-book and was so impressed with the banging that he used his influence to make it a best seller. The book went throughout the world and eventually found its ways into the hands of Akatsuki. Akatsuki loved the book so much that they gave up on their plans and went on to live happily ever after; but they killed Sasuke and Orochimaru first and then banged too.

Hinata and Naruto enjoyed being famous from the new perv book, but then they were looked down as sluts by their families; well Hinata was, Naruto would have been looked at as a slut by his family, but he doesn't have one. Hinata couldn't take the shame and so she killed herself. Naruto blamed Hinata's suicide on her family and so he went and killed them. After the raging death, the Hokage viewed Naruto as a risk to the village and put him down.

After losing Naruto, Konoha was exposed for the week, lame country that they were and was conquered by the rock ninja, they renamed the annexed city Yamaha Hibachi Bento Tamagachi.


End file.
